There are many wonderful ways to give your health a dietary boost these days, but determining which supplements are best for you can be daunting. The choice for the perfect supplements for your needs really depends upon who you are ... your body’s unique requirements and your personal goals.

If we know anything it's that the internet is rife with unsubstantiated claims and, frankly, bunk recommendations for healthy products that don’t come anywhere near to living up to their hype. Before you start buying nutritional supplements, please carefully consider the following five criteria.

1. Medicinal IntakeConsider your current health and any medicines you’re taking because they might leech your body of necessary vitamins and minerals. For instance, if you regularly take an antibiotic, you might need a probiotic supplement to help keep your gut flora healthy. Or if you’re taking hydroxychloroquine for an autoimmune issue, you’ll need to monitor your folic acid intake. Be sure to talk to your doctor or pharmacist when prescribed a new medication to see if you need to supplement your diet during the course of treatment. Additionally, you would be wise to ask if the supplements you are already taking might be contraindicated by your medications.

2. Prevention GoalsSome of us might be worried about a specific ailment (such as diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc.) and seek a supplement that could possibly aid in prevention. If this is something you’re concerned about, do your research! Learn which supplements contain the nutritional benefits you are seeking and whether or not there’s science to back up any benefit claims. But don’t trust just anyone, make sure your decisions are based on quality information. A good place to start is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health or consult your doctor.

3. AgeAs we grow older, our bodies require additional levels of certain nutrients to stay healthy. Older women tend to experience bone loss (which can lead to an increased risk of fractures), so adding extra calcium is usually a good idea. Older men might need extra dietary fiber if Type 2 diabetes and heart disease are sources of worry. If you’re older than 50, ask your doctor or you might want to check out the National Institute on Aging for helpful vitamin and mineral recommendations (they have loads of other great nutritional information as well)!

4. GenderThe fact is, men and women have different dietary needs. Women tend to need more iron and calcium, while men are often deficient in, well, quite frankly, just about everything. So taking your sex into consideration could be more important than you think.

5. Current DietThis is really the baseline for everything. Maybe you are strictly following a ketogenic diet (low-carb, high fat), or you’re a vegan or you eat whatever you please. No matter what foods you consume, you should keep close track of your diet for a week and then analyze it to identify any nutritional gaps. Common deficits include fiber, vitamins D and E, probiotics and fish oils. For example, one person may eat a lot of fish and white rice, but forget to add fibrous fruits and veggies. Another might regularly eat veggies and fruits, but not enough protein. This is a healthy exercise in that, once you see what you might be lacking, you can make a more targeted effort in your meal planning. Furthermore, now that you recognize your dietary deficits, you'll be much better equipped to determine which quality supplements (such as a multivitamin, fish oil caps or plant protein) you need to maintain balanced nutritional intake.

Once you've had time to run through all of these considerations, you will be so much more confident that your next steps will actually be tailored to your needs. When you're ready to shop for nourishing supplements, we hope you'll keep Life's Abundance in mind to help fulfill your nutritional supplement needs!

Even though the days are growing longer, we’re all coming off months of reduced time in the sun. While snuggling in the warmth of cozy dens holds appeal, there are some drawbacks to limited solar exposure. When it's colder and darker, outdoor activity is typically limited, too. Medically speaking, it also means we might start experiencing a dip in our vitamin D levels. The reason? According to the National Institutes of Health, most people need at least some of their vitamin D minimum requirements to be self-sourced through exposure to sunlight.

It's by no means a small problem. Approximately one billion people worldwide have a vitamin D deficiency. This fat-soluble vitamin helps us absorb calcium, grow strong bones and maintain our immune system. Those who are deficient in vitamin D might find themselves at greater risk for such troubling diseases as rickets (especially in children), osteoporosis (especially among the elderly) and even autoimmune disorders. Vitamin D deficiency is even increasingly linked to seasonal affective disorder, that feeling of sadness or anxiety that expresses itself during the winter months.

So how do you keep your vitamin D levels ramped up even during winter? Here are three suggestions to help keep your body nourished.

1. Boost Your Diet: Vitamin D naturally occurs in very few foods. Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel are likely your best source, although you can also find it in smaller amounts in egg yolks, cheese and beef liver. If the thought of beef liver or mackerel doesn’t quite do it for you, and you’ve had your quota of salmon for the week, look for fortified foods on your grocery shelves. A lot of cereals are loaded with vitamin D, and dairy products started adding vitamin D in the 1930's to fight rickets. If you’re trying to figure out how to create a menu containing the 600 IU of vitamin D an average adults needs, the USDA has compiled a comprehensive list of food sources (visit https://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/vitamin-d).

2. Go Outside: People who live farthest from the equator are at the highest risk of experiencing a vitamin D deficiency. That’s why it's so important that you make sure you expose yourself to sunshine every day, if at all possible. Even though we all know we're supposed to use sunscreen, doctors recommend that we all try to spend a few minutes outside without sunscreen so that those ultraviolet rays can soak into your skin, mix with your cholesterol and transform into vitamin D. You can keep your face covered, and just have your arms uncovered for 10-30 minutes a days. Healthline reports that midday is the best time to get some sunshine: “[A] study found that 30 minutes of midday summer sun exposure in Oslo, Norway, was equivalent to consuming 10,000-20,000 IU of vitamin D.” Be forewarned that melanin in darkly pigmented skin can act as a barrier that prevents vitamin D production. So, if you have darker skin, you might need to spend a little extra time outside. Try to schedule lunch breaks that coincide with the brightest time of day, especially during the winter months, to ensure that you're soaking up prime rays.

3. Pop a Multivitamin: Because so many people do live far away from the equator and struggle to meet their requirements with food, dietary vitamin D supplements are the best and easiest way to boost your health in this regard. Just one serving of our plant-based Life’s Abundance Multivitamin will provide you with the full recommended 600 IU of vitamin D.

Almost everywhere - from Facebook to the pretty pages of your favorite magazine to the packaging of your go-to foods - you’ll read that getting your vitamins and minerals from fruits and veggies is an important aspect of living a Nutritious Life1. And, that’s spot on!

However, we don’t live in a perfect world, so while it would be ideal to get all of the things we need from our diet, this often is easier said than done.

Supplementing your healthy diet that’s packed with fruit and veggies (and whole grains, healthy fats and lean protein!) is often necessary. However, there is such thing as too much of a good thing.

Unlike water soluble vitamins that dissolve in water and are excreted by the body if taken in excess, fat soluble vitamins go through your digestive tract, into the lymph system, and then into the blood to be stored in fat and liver cells. Since theses vitamins can’t be excreted, over accumulation of them can lead to toxicity and negative health side effects. What’s a healthy wannabe to do?

Vitamins A, D, and E are all considered fat soluble (K is too!), and should be supplemented with caution.

Hypervitaminosis of vitamin A can cause bone pain, changes in vision, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, jaundice, and itchy or peeling skin2. If it becomes a prolonged chronic problem, accumulation of vitamin A can even lead to liver damage.

Overconsumption of vitamin D has even been shown to cause hypercalcemia3 (too much calcium in the blood), which can weaken the integrity of your bones and cause complications in both your brain and heart.

In one study, intake of vitamin E over 400 IU per day was associated with increased overall risk of death4, and high doses through multivitamins have been known to cause nausea, vomiting, fatigue, blurred vision, or rashes5.

Fortunately, there's a simple solution. Life’s Abundance Multivitamin provides these critical vitamins and minerals, but was developed and formulated to ensure that the nourishing ingredients are in amounts you need to simply SUPP-lement the diet, not overdo it.

Unlike some competing brands that overload their supplements, Life’s Abundance knows that more is not always more! You don’t want to bombard your body with an endless list (and amount) of vitamins and minerals that will only be excreted out, or end up causing you more harm than good.

An extra bonus? Our proprietary spice blend and black pepper fruit extract in this multi will supply you with an additional boost of nutrition!

It’s refreshing, right? The feeling of starting fresh in a new year, with an opportunity for self improvement and change.

Here’s a good tip for when you’re making New Year's goals and resolutions. It will help you stay focused on both short and long-term goals alike.

When defining what you want to achieve, keep it realistic, attainable and measurable.

However, no matter how doable your goal, it’s always nice to have that little extra bit of help and accountability when it comes to following through on your promises to yourself.

Everyone can agree that positive reinforcement is a great way to adopt new behaviors and leave bad habits in the dust. As we all know, there's no better feeling than feeling your best!

At Life's Abundance, we've assembled the most incredible positive-reinforcement pack. Think of it as your go-to bag for getting stuff done AND feeling great. This bundle pack includes everything you need to be your healthiest self in 2017 and you can get a 20% discount off the retail price until January 31, 2017! It includes the following six full-size supplements:

Chocolate or Vanilla Protein - A completely plant based, protein rich powder with amazing flavor that can be mixed with anything from water to your baked good recipes.

Greens Blend - Using this powder is an easy way to get all of your recommended greens in. It’s a non-GMO mix of raw, certified organic grasses and mushrooms with a subtle berry flavor, and a silky smooth texture.

Probiotic - This probiotic is a four-strain blend to help maintain an optimal microflora balance. Good gut health contributes greatly to your overall health.

Multivitamin - This is a natural capsule multivitamin with a focused approach to health. This means that it provides you with exactly the vitamins you need, while leaving out exactly what you don’t.

Fish Oil Capsules - These supplements are ultra concentrated with two to three times as much health promoting EPA and DHA as competing brands. Plus, they have a slightly citrusy flavor!

This pack is essential for making the positive changes you want to accomplish in the New Year. Positive reinforcements will not only help you achieve your goals, but also feel more energized and youthful at the same time!

Utilizing this pack is the perfect tool to start the momentum toward more confidence and focus on attaining your goals. As long as you remain committed, the strength of this positive feedback loop will only grow, enabling you to do more in 2017 than you maybe even thought possible.

So, let's all start the New Year with a big commitment to ourselves, and each other!

In an ideal world, we would eat the perfect amounts and proportions of just the right foods from pristine, organically grown farms so we could obtain optimal nutrition from each and every bite. Sounds good, right?

It’s important to understand that foods are complicated – in a good way. All foods contain a host of complex micronutrients that work together in perfect harmony. This is why I believe that you can’t pop a pill and expect it to replace all of the nutrition foods deliver in your diet. There’s no singular pill, powder or solution that can compare with the comprehensive nutrition that fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and other foods supply to the diet.

The problem is that this is the real world, not an ideal world and our food supply, lifestyles and unique nutritional needs make it difficult for us to get the all nutrients we need from food alone. Fruits and vegetables don’t contain the vitamins and minerals they used to years ago due to the depletion of these nutrients in the soil. They also lose nutritional potency in transit from the farm to your table, not to mention the nutrients lost when cooking them. And finally, our hectic schedules often get in the way of making the right dietary choices. For example, instead of a grilled chicken breast with a sweet potato and green beans for dinner, you worked late and picked up a bucket of fried chicken with mashed potatoes and an apple cobbler dessert. This is why only one out of five people get adequate vitamins and minerals from their food.

Here’s where I believe a daily supplements can be very helpful. Although they cannot replace all of the nutrition food delivers, when your body needs a little extra help, they will have your back and can go a long way to help nutritionally compensate those of us who live in the real world.

So now you may be wondering, “what should I be taking?” There’s so many options to choose from that it can get kind of overwhelming. Is a gender-specific formula the way to go, should I try compressed pills, capsules or a gummies, perhaps a mega-dose formula is right for me or should opt for a special supplement formulated for hair and nails, energy or my age? I believe a multivitamin that provides you with the essential nutrients for optimal health and no more makes the most sense. Because too much of “good thing” can have unwanted consequences.

I recommend Life’s Abundance Multivitamin because it provides a balanced approach to a daily supplement, providing all of the essential nutrients and none of the extras. Plus, we’ve added a unique spice blend of black pepper extract, rosemary, turmeric, oregano, cayenne, cinnamon, holy basil and cloves. These spices offer a wealth of plant-based phytonutrients and antioxidants so important for optimal health. And since I believe it’s important to reduce additives from the diet, it is free from magnesium stearate. Life’s Abundance Multivitamin veggie capsules are made from cellulose, which not only helps protect sensitive ingredients but also breaks down and delivers nutrients more easily than compressed tablets. And, last but not least, it is soy, grain and dairy free with no added sugar, artificial flavors, color or preservatives. So, do the best you can to eat as healthy as you can and if you need a little help, try Life’s Abundance Multivitamin.